A Reason
by happy go lucky clover
Summary: "Things between me and Cato are getting awkward ever since Glimmer and Marvel died. It seems that we're trying to keep a distance from each other possibly for a reason. A reason that makes us look weak. A reason that we, future-victors, don't deserve." -Clove
1. The Announcement

Chapter 1:

The Announcement

Disclaimer: I don't own both The Hunger Games and the logo (which I'm using it for the cover image of this story :P), it's copyrighted by Suzanne Collins :D

* * *

Clove's POV

I wake up and find myself lying on the floor, next to a tree, and inside a sleeping bag. I stand up and begin to search for my knife, which I believe is somewhere around the tree.

After spending the last 15 minutes searching for my knife, I begin to freak out, realizing that it has gone missing. The sun is setting down and you never knew what to expect in the Games, especially when you left alone, unguarded, and exposed to the wilderness.

Without wasting more time, I pack the sleeping bag into my backpack and start to wandering around the tree. Cato left me to hunt for food, since we lost our food stock in a fire set by someone a few days ago. I must admit that I am a little bit scared without a knife. Throwing knives has always been my one and only protection, it makes me feel secure, makes me feel satisfied, and somehow, relieved. Furthermore, knives never had disappointed me in terms of killing. Slaughtering tributes and seeing blood flows from them just make satisfied. I know, after all _I am sadistic._

As the moon rises to the sky, I just hope that this night will be another peacefully boring night. The last thing I don't want to happen is being found and killed by the girl from District 12, without any resistance, while looking so pity because of the fact that I lost my knife in the woods. I know I could do better than that, even if I have to get killed by her, I want to give everyone a good show.

Suddenly, I see smoke in the air, meaning someone's making a camp fire. But who will be dumb enough to set a fire at night? Knowing that the Careers will find and kill you straight away? _Unless, if the one who set the fire is no other than the Careers themselves, which only means… Cato!_ I run towards the camp fire and my suspicion is right. It's Cato, armed with my knife and his spear.

* * *

"Why did you steal my knife?" He turns his head towards me and throws the knife back to me. "Your knife is for hunting animals; my spear is for killing someone."

I catch the knife and tightly holding it.

"So, what did you get?" I ask impatiently. Things between me and Cato are getting awkward since Glimmer and Marvel died. It seems that we're trying to keep a distant from each other possibly for a reason. A reason that makes us look weak. A reason that we, future-victors, don't deserve.

"A squirrel, a rabbit, and an animal which I never knew before." He says while pointing to a pile of meat.

"Mutation." I say while looking at the meat. "It must have been one of Capitol's mutations"

"Well, it seems that we don't have any choice besides eating _it_, don't we?"

"Guess you're right." I pause for a minute and resume my words, this time, sarcastically. " What choice do we have?"

* * *

While waiting for our food to be cooked, we choose to remain silent while doing our personal stuffs. In my case, I choose to sharpen my knife. The result is pretty much of what I had in mind, so I'm quite satisfied with my work.

I almost fall asleep when suddenly Claudius makes an announcement. It's about a stupid feast that's going to be held in the Cornucopia. Although the idea of the feast is kind of lame, his words are a little bit convincing. _I'm sure each of you desperately needs something._

I'm about to continue my sleep when a thought runs through my mind. _Lover Boy! That's it! _He's badly injured and now Fire Girl must take care of the wound will not heal enough just by treated it carefully, he needs medicine, _he_ _desperately needs a medicine. _

I turn my head towards Cato. " _Cato, we need to go to the feast!_"

* * *

A/N: Yay! My first HG fanfic! :DDD I've always wanted to write a fanfic but I never knew who or what to write, but now that I know, I'm gonna write for more! :D

Sorry there's not much of a romance going on, maybe I'll make it up to you guys in the next chapter.

Well, see you in the next chapter~


	2. An Ambush

Chapter 2:

An Ambush

Disclaimer: I don't own both The Hunger Games and the logo (which I'm using it for the cover image of this story :P), it's copyrighted by Suzanne Collins :D

* * *

Clove's POV

"But we need to agree on one thing, Clove" Cato looks up to me and smirks. It's not just any of his smirk; it's more likely to be one of that typical cockily smirk of his that he always show whenever he was about to kill someone. But somehow, he doesn't look that cocky to me. Maybe other tributes will find it terrifying or anything like that; but for some reason, I find that smirk to be kind of… charming.

I never really realize Cato's, umn, charming appearance. Not until now that is. I used to think that all the girls from our District are crazy enough to fall for someone careless as Cato. But maybe it's not because of me, but maybe it's because of Cato. Because of him never showing his charm towards me, knowing that it'll do no good to him. Knowing that I'm just as careless and ruthless as he is. Knowing that I'll never let myself falling in love with him.

"We need to agree that I'm going to be one who killed Fire Girl." I jump instantly at his words. Not just because he's going to kill Fire Girl, but it's more likely to the fact that I just realize I've been daydreaming about him. _Damn it!_

"What the hell, Cato?!" I raise my voice slowly as my temper increases rapidly. "We don't do this so – called agreement thing! We kill who we wanted to kill!" I can see Cato moving carefully from his position. He stretches his arms as a universal sign of 'this is going to be a long conversation because I'm not going to give up that easily.'

"Fire Girl is my one and only prey, Clove. I thought I've stated that clearly to you."

"Clearly you don't." I reply short and sarcastically to balance off his previous rather harsh sentences. "I am going to kill Fire Girl, Cato. With or without your agreement."

"And what makes you think you're capable of doing it? You've failed to kill her once during the bloodbath, so what makes you think you're not gonna repeat the same mistake again?"

"Oh, really? And what about you, Cato? Aren't you just the same as me?" I secretly smile triumphantly due to the fact that he's getting more and more furious now. "Please, you can't even kill that pathetic Lover Boy –"

* * *

Cato's POV

And… she stops. Clove, the almighty princess of knives, finally loses herself in an argument to me?

Sounds too good to be true.

But still – no matter how large is the part of me saying that there's definitely something wrong with her – I am using this opportunity to let myself grin triumphantly. Hey, better to take as much advantage as you can over the situation before she's finally back, right? "Running out of words, Clovely dear?" And with that, I have officially dropped the ultimatum to her.

Or at least I thought so.

Because the reality is she still remains in her place, not moving even a single inch. Okay, now I'm confused of which Clove I like better; the complete denial and stubborn old Clove or the careless new Clove… I take a quick glance at Clove's direction only to find her getting stiffer. I guess if this is the case, then I'm gonna go with the old Clove better. _She's gonna be so proud of herself if only she knows…_

I'm about to get up to make my next move which I have no idea about it. Apologize? Nah. She'll probably just gonna laugh at me and walk off anyway. Just go and leave her alone? Nah. No one in the history of Careers had ever left an alliance. It'll make you look like you're leaving your allies because you're too vulnerable and attached to kill them. I know, such a shame right?

When I finally decide my next move, I hear a sound coming from the bushes. _Idiots. Who will be idiotic enough to plan an ambush to the Careers? _Apparently this 74th Hunger Games' brave little tributes are. I chuckle a little to myself before receiving a deathly glare from Clove. "Oh look who's finally decided to give up? I doubted for a second there that you were actually abandoning me."

Clove rolls her eyes. "Seriously Cato? Is there possibly anyone more immature than you? Wait, do you even understand the word _immature _and _serious_?!" Unfortunately, before I can say anything about it, our _lovely_ conversation is interrupted by a howling sound. Whatever it is, it's not a human being all right. Unless if suddenly 12, 11 and 5 decided to work together to kill us and one of them has the ability to howl that good. _No way, they're too dumb to make an alliance like we do._

Then suddenly, out of nowhere, I hear Clove screams 'mutations.'

_Way the go, Clove. Thinking about food at this time? I thought you're supposed to be the smart one… _I shake my head lightly at that thought, grab my sword and Marvel's spear, and ready to lunge forward towards the bushes. But then, to my surprise, she continues screaming her – what seems to be – unfinished sentences.

"_They're the same mutts as the mutations you killed earlier, Cato!"_

* * *

A/N: PLEASE READ THIS GUYS! So -as you all know- lately I'm having troubles (such as writer's block, school, etc) and might not be able to continue this story. I'm sorry; I truly am. I tried my best to write the next chapter but instead I found myself redoing this chapter.. Please don't hate me, you guys are such a nice people and I know how it feels when someone NEVER updated his/her story. And because of that, I'm doing you guys a favor to stop waiting for the next update (until further notice, which I'm afraid, can be a very long time).

Actually, I did write a few for the next chapter, but it's very short. And by short, I mean very short like 200 words short. If you'd like to see it, you can PM me. And maybe, if you wish to, you can continue it from there. See? I'm giving all the privileges and options!

Once again, I truly deeply madly do sorry guys if I let down any of you. You know I love you (not in a creepy way) and will always do. Thanks for reading and choosing this story :'D It meant a lot for me... Farewell my fellow readers, we shall meet again someday... :3

PS: JohnHenryEden is making a SYOT! It'll be very cool of you to go and check it out! There are still plenty of spots to fill, so come on and what are you waiting for?! Go and PM your tribute ASAP! (I feel like I'm advertising something, but oh well~)


	3. Here They Come

Chapter 3:

Here They Come

Disclaimer: I don't own both The Hunger Games and the logo (which I'm using it for the cover image of this story :P), it's copyrighted by Suzanne Collins :D

* * *

Clove's POV

I look at Cato's direction only to find him armored by Marvel's spear and his sword. Great. Can he be stupid somewhere else? Does he honestly dumb enough to believe that he can fight against numerous mutts with only a spear and a sword? _Great, just great... Useless like always._ I roll my eyes at that statement and carry on.

I look at my surrounding and realize straight away the zero chance we have in escaping. We're surrounded; it's impossible to make a single move now without being torn apart by them. _I guess I don't have a choice, do I?_ I'm just about to take a knife from my vest when a thought runs through my mind. They're starving… and we have food.

"Cato, give them the meat! NOW!" Cato stares at me questioningly but stops his action of killing the mutts anyways. "What?! Are you deaf or something? I said GIVE. THEM. THE. FOOD!" He grins and then shakes his head harshly. "Say it politely and maybe I'll think about it."

"Meaning, you want me to say it with please?"

"Well, not exactly, but that'll do."

His last answer makes me feel like cutting and tearing him into billions of pieces with my knife. I never say please to anyone in my entire life, not even to my 'parents', so what gives him the right to make me? "Fine, I'll do it by myself then."

I can see he's a little bit shock but still manages to play along for the sake of his pride; the same reason as mine. His glare sharpens as he opens his mouth. "You wouldn't dare. You're way too far; it's impossible."

"Watch me."

* * *

They said life flashes before you when you know you're about to die.

Of course, being a stubborn and realistic person I am, I never bothered to listen nor consider about the statement itself. But now as I'm nearing death, I'm starting to doubt myself. As I stand there, surrounded by the mutts and am too startled to even move my own legs, all I can think is one thing….

My mother and the day of her funeral.

It was a very sickening sight, really. With everyone kept on telling me how sorry they were and all. Well guess what? I'M NOT. My mother died because she killed herself, not because of a monster ripping and tearing her flesh in pieces. No, she died because she couldn't take the pressure of being a Victor, because she couldn't bear at the thought of raising her daughter alone, because… because she was a weakling.

And that's why my mother and I would never be the same, because I was born to be a Victor, and she was not.

I mean, what kind of person would kill themselves after surviving death? I bet even the idiot Cato won't do it. I know he's dumb and completely useless, but even him will know that's the stupidest thing to do. Oh, what am I kidding? We're talking about Cato here; the selfish bastard that doesn't care about anyone besides himself and his way to victory. There's no way he'd ever feel guilty or even a tiniest sorry.

But again, who am I to judge? All the satisfaction I get from killing, you probably think I'm a complete psycho by now. Guilt? Well, for starters, let me tell you a story. Back in District 2, there's no such a word as guilt or regret. No, but we were taught of a phrase instead, 'to kill or to be killed'. That's the motto we grew up and familiar with. That's the slogan we keep in our minds. And that's the quote that still keeps me alive 'till this very moment.

Yet, I still find myself doubting. Who knows? Maybe that 'guilty' feeling was there all along, but it felt so alien to me so I just shrugged it off. Or maybe it's the Games, slowly changing us into some kind of a maniac.

Who knows?

* * *

Cato's POV

This can't be true. No, this has to a nightmare. All my life I've never seen Clove so… passive. It's like she knows she's going to die and completely okay with it. How she remains calm and does completely nothing at this very moment, somehow just frightens me.

As I desperately make my way towards her, I can't help but to think of something to snap her out of it. And unfortunately, I came up with the most suicidal solution ever. "Hey Clover!" Still no response, huh? That's okay, 'cause we haven't even reached the best part, _yet_. "Are you just gonna die like that? Without giving the Capitol some kind of _good show_?"

I can see just the tiniest bit of light coming back to her eyes. But still, that won't do any good. The mutts are racing towards her like crazy, and at this rate, she'll be torn to pieces as a matter of seconds!

I sigh in frustration while struggling to kill all the mutts standing on my way. It's impossible, I know. There's no way for me to safe her now. In fact, I think it's too late for her to safe herself now…

Out of the sudden, I feel my heart beating so fast as if it's going to explode.

_Why?_ I can't think of a reason for this kind of behavior. I'm so used to seeing people dying. _So why does this one be any different? And why does it seem like I'm trying to get her out alive so bad?_ Well, you know what? Screw it, I don't care. If I care for her, so be it. The urge for saving her is by far much more higher than all of these stupid questions ringing in my head. Besides, that's Clove's job. Who'll do it for me if she's dead?

"Are you just gonna end up like your freakin' mom? Died in tragedy? Well guess what, Clove?! At least people still remember her after she died, but you? You're nothing but just another worthless tribute in the Games!"

And just like out of nowhere, she's back to her very own self. I smirk as she shoots me the worst glare ever. But the real question is, now what? I guess I should've never brought her back to reality; maybe she'd somehow die more peaceful that way. Even with her professionalism with throwing knives and stuff, surviving this definitely needs all the odds in her favor.

At least that's what I thought. Right now, I'm just stunned with her sudden transformation. One by one, she killed them all without catching a single breath. Blood splattering everywhere and the sound of mutts howling can be heard from a radius of 5 km She has turned into some kind of a monster now. But that's okay, because I'm a monster too.

_And together, we might just make it…_

* * *

A/N: Look who's back from the dead? Yup, my fellow readers, it's me! :3 So sorry to make you wait this long, ya see, I just been to this camp... and let's just say it was pretty much a stressful, near-death experience. Like honestly, the way to the bathroom was so slippery 'till I would've sworn people with heart attacks would have an instant death on their way.

Anyways, since my mind seems to have function under stressful conditions, instead of freaking out, I did this fic instead! Pretty wise, huh? 8) Updates might be just a LITTLE faster since it's winter holiday (yay!), but still I can't promise you anything...

And finally, for those who reviewed, thank you very much! Reviews are always welcomed and well-appreciated, in fact, they're sorta my motivation for writing (true fact) :D


End file.
